The design battery-operated power tool has come a long way. Not only has the battery lifespan increased but many tools can now meet the capabilities of their gas and corded counterparts.
Open any toolbox for any project, any construction professional will be able to see and feel the effort that goes into the engineering and design to meet the needs of contractors. Recent improvements have included extensions that allow workers to remain standing while tying rebar, ergonomics to minimize backpain, lighter weight to keep pros productive all week long, even improved designs to better capture silica dust are among many – many - others.
Like their leading tool brands, Bosch has embraced the idea to match its tools to the needs and requirements of contractors and construction professionals. The engineers have done so with safety features and functionalities designed for the hardworking users to make the workday that much easier.
In fact, in a campaign that launched in August 2022 featuring the polished-smooth voice of Nick Offerman, Bosch put focus on the engineering of their power tools – highlighting the PROFACTOR High Torque Hammer Drill/Driver, X-LOCK Angle Grinder, and 2-IN-1 Impact Driver and Impact Wrench. You can find their campaign on social media, YouTube as well as boschtools.com.
“Our R&D teams have successfully merged ergonomic design with powerful tools to achieve peak performance, setting industry standards that prioritize the worker's needs, through ease-of-use and time savings on the job," says Philipp Gosau, Director of Product Development at Bosch.
The GSB18V-1330C is Bosch's strongest hammer drill/driver, with 1,330 in-lbs. of max torque and built-in proprietary Electronic Angle Detection to improve drilling accuracy at specific angles.Bosch Power Tools & Accessories
“Almost every concrete includes rebar now-a-days,” says Gosau. “Sometimes that rebar needs to be cut, so users also like to use our X-LOCK Angle Grinders for small correctional cuts during the installation process.” However, needs will require switching from cutting to grinding and Gosau explains that a major pain point was when changing the blade/wheel.
Anyone that found their wheel over-tightened or lost the wrench will understand. For the unfamiliar, a standard angle grinder requires you to use a wrench provided with the tool to loosen the nut to change the blade, then re-tighten with the replacement. If lost, you’ll need to find another wrench to fit. If over-tightened, the tool is all-but a paperweight until you get the nut lose again.
Alleviating this hassle, Bosch’s X-LOCK feature allows contractors to remove and replace the blade/wheel with the lift of a single lever and click with a holding performance matching the conventional spindle and dual flange mounting system.
“The X-LOCK mounting system passed the same rigorous and extensive performance and certification testing as does our standard spindle and dual flange system,” says Gosau.
The swapping of the cutting wheel, quite literally, is a snap. The blade removes with the pull of a little red lever and align the replacement with an X shape on the blade and mount. A click later and you’re back to work. This process minimizes the need to interact with the tool on-site and next to eliminates the concern on whether or not the nut was tight enough. Consequently, the X-shape is where the tool earned its name.
Product Development
Within the product management team at Bosch, a handful of trade experts travel around the country visiting jobsites to observe and connect with construction companies. They’re not there to tell professionals what to do, but rather, observe and bring prototypes to collect feedback. This allows the team to better understand of what is important for the worker, what do they like, what do they not like. That research is then brought back and start the product development process. Its here where changes are brought out, where they work through the challenges brought up from users. This, says Gosau, is how the X-Lock interface, kickback control and the 2-IN-1 are created.
Bosch also runs qualitative and quantitative research projects utilizing questionnaires with professional moderators to lead a discussion to get feedback on concepts and technical features.
Featuring Bosch's newest interface solution following the design of SDS, X-LOCK, the GWX18V-8 Angle Grinder allows for up to 5X faster wheel change vs. standard grinders. X-LOCK is a click-in mounting and lever wheel release interface, which helps to make accessory transitions faster on the job.Bosch Power Tools & Accessories
“We make an effort to come up with solutions to protect the safety of the worker. We listened to the worker and based on what we learned we innovate with ergonomic features,” says Gosau.
A similar level of insightful solutions can be found inside the GWS/X18V-13 as well as GWS/X18V-10 X-LOCK Angle Grinders called Drop Control. This feature is designed to help shut the grinder off after accidentally dropping the tool on the floor.
Inspired by the roofing contractor, another feature is what the Bosch team calls “angle detect mode.” Once a user sets a specific angle, a light will turn green when the tool is at that angle.
Contractors can find these tools through their local distributor, but Bosch isn’t letting concrete settle – more are on the way. “We’re super excited here,” says Gosau. “We’re working really hard on our roadmap to bring all the tools the worker needs and deserves. We have a lot of exciting things coming.”
He suggests staying tuned. With World of Concrete just around the corner; we sure will.
